Why Did Jesus Ask So Many Questions? Five Reasons

Jesus Asked a Lot of Question. Why?

If you read the Gospels, you’ll notice that Jesus asked a lot of questions. I have often thought of Jesus’s use of questions in His earthly ministry. Until now, though, I had yet to ask why He asked so many questions. Have you ever wondered about this?

So, why did Jesus ask so many questions? Asking questions in teaching has been a common practice for many teachers. This is true during the time of Jesus as well. Most of the time, the purpose of asking a question is to generate a response and to encourage people think more deeply about something. Jesus often asked very pointed questions to different audiences to get a response. The response would then be used for teaching, for testing, for believing, for proclaiming, and for rebuking. In many cases, Jesus’s purpose for asking questions falls into multiple categories simultaneously.

Would you join me in diving further into this question? Let’s look at a couple of examples of Jesus asking questions and look to see why He asked them.

Questions For Teaching

Two similar examples show how Jesus used questions to teach.

Rhetorical Question

And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He said this plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
And calling the crowd to Him with His disciples, He said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:31-38, bold added)

Rhetorical questions are meant to illicit a response within the hearer. Just not a verbal one.

In this example, Jesus is speaking to His disciples and the crowd. He asks two rhetorical questions, For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? It is clear that Jesus is not addressing a specific individual. He is asking for a response. He is using the questions to teach the crowd. He wants them to be introspective, or do some self-examination. He wants each of them to come to a conclusion on their own as to how they would answer these questions.

Jesus was teaching them that there is nothing that this world can offer a man that is greater than the gift of eternal life. That man cannot purchase this gift. Eternal life is found only in Jesus Christ. Received only by faith.

Expecting a Verbal Response

This type of question requires a verbal response.

And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” (Luke 10:25-28, bold added)

This second example is that of a direct question. Jesus responds to the man’s question with a question of His own. “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”

It is clear that this question is meant to receive a verbal response. No matter how the man answers it, Jesus would use his response to teach.

Questions For Testing

After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following Him, because they saw the signs that He was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up His eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward Him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, He told His disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that He had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. (John 6:1-15, bold added)

This instance is hopefully very clear. The text tells us that Jesus asks the question to Philip to test him. Philip did not pass the test. He was looking to what is seen. Rather than looking to the power of God demonstrated in the Messiah, Jesus. The answer Philip gave demonstrated what was in his heart. Jesus then used the incorrect response as a foundation to teach the truth.

Questions For Believing

Now when Jesus came, He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met Him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give You.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” (John 11:17-27, bold added)

One of the most important questions that man must answer is, Do you believe this? Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who came into the world? I do.

Martha answered this question of faith positively. She believed.

When many of His disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in Himself that His disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?” Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
After this many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that You are the Holy One of God.” Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him. (John 6:60-71, bold added)

Will you so easily leave Jesus as many so many others have? Or will you cling to Him, no matter what, because He has the words of eternal life?

For more on why this question is so important, see our articles:

Questions For Proclaiming

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then He strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that He was the Christ. (Matthew 16:13-20, bold added)

Jesus asks Peter, “But who do you say that I am?” The response the Lord desired was that of proclamation. Essentially, Jesus is saying, it doesn’t matter who others say I am. Ultimately, what matters is: who do you say that I am? The Father in heaven revealed to Peter who Jesus really is. Peter responds correctly, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Peter proclaims the truth in response to this direct question! This is an incredibly important proclamation for all of mankind to make and truly believe. It is the foundation upon which Jesus will build His church. Who do you say that Jesus is? Does your response proclaim truth?

Questions For Rebuking

And when He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?” Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe Him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And He said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. (Matthew 21:23-32, bold added)

The context of this passage makes it clear that Jesus is asking questions to rebuke the religious leaders and the people. He is rebuking them for their disbelief and subsequent rejection of God. The Son of God, Jesus, was standing in their midst. And they received Him not.

Instead of repenting and changing their minds and believing in Him, they hardened their hearts. They persisted in their unbelief. Eventually, they crucified the Son of God. They handed Him over into the hands of lawless men to be crucified. All in fulfillment of the Scriptures.

Jesus goes on to tell them this parable with questions,

“Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to Him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord's doing,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest Him, they feared the crowds, because they held Him to be a prophet. (Matthew 21:33-46, bold added)

What will you do with the Son? Will you reject Him in disbelief? Despising and rejecting Him? For those who do this there is only a fearful expectation of Judgment.

Or will you believe upon the Son? Receiving everlasting life as you look to Him and His righteousness?

How you answer these questions matters. Are you trusting in the only Savior, Jesus, the Son of God, who is both Lord and Christ?